


Moonlight Respite

by poisonedapple



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Artwork by disnerys, Critical Role Reverse Bang, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 10:38:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8621236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonedapple/pseuds/poisonedapple
Summary: Pike and Zahra bond in Whitestone, while their families are elsewhere doing their part to fight the Chroma Conclave.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a cross post from tumblr, as a part of the Crit Role Bang.
> 
> Artwork by disnerys (http://disnerys.tumblr.com/) Thank you for the beautiful artwork.

A bright full moon shines upon Pike from the window and she stops to adjust the tray in her hands and peek through the window, illuminated by pale moonlight. The moon is bright outside but the night is dark and she can't see the grounds. She can hear hushed voices ahead as she starts walking again. It's late, but everyone in Whitestone has kept to odd hours lately in the mounting stress caused by Chroma Conclave.

“Rather peculiar lot, aren't they? You should have seen the ruckus they raised with the boys training the other day! The small man, you know the one flirts around, he had the big guy – Grog, I think – attack the boys! Said he was going to kill them, if the boys hadn't been stopped by Brother Kashaw!”

Pike freezes, as she realizes she about to round the corner and walk straight into the pair of maids gossiping in the halls of Whitestone Castle. The tea tray is just a tad too large for her hands to carry comfortably, her arms stretching uncomfortably wide to keep hold of the handles meant for human as she balances the teapot, cups, and biscuits, trying not to let them wobble and clink against each other.

The other maid gasps in shock. “Well, they are a bit strange – I'll give you that. I had to clean up the most awful mess of oil from their doors just a couple weeks ago. Same day as those assassins came! Imagine, if I had waited a few more hours to clean that up, I might have been assassinated myself!” She lets out a loud sigh. “Of course, I'm grateful that they released us from the terrors we'd faced for all those years. We really shouldn't speak of them in such a way.”

“Oh, yes, of course!” The other woman rushes to say. “They are the heroes of Whitestone and deserve our respect, of course!” The women are silent for a long moment and Pike can hear rustling. Pike thinks they might be taking a break from collecting laundry. “I do wish, though, that they didn't make such a ruckus everything they visited. They always leave behind such strange messes. Did Bianca tell you -,”

Pike realizes too late that the maids have started walking her way and her face goes hot as they turn the corner and see her, teacups trembling in her hands as her hands shake.

“Oh!” they both cry out. They are both young human women, a brunette and a blonde.

“Hello,” Pike greets nervously waving her hand weakly, shifting to the side in the hopes that they'll go passed her and not knowledge their previous conversation to her.

Instead, their heads incline towards her, chins to their chests and eyes on the floor. One of them, the blonde, rushes to say, “I apologize, Lady Pike. We should not have spoken out of turn.”

“No, no, no, it's fine,” says Pike, “Really.” It's not exactly the first time Vox Machina have pestered innocent civilians with their antics and overstayed their welcome by overstepping their bounds. Vox Machina has learned to occasionally ask for permission before causing a commotion and to ask forgiveness after the fact in other cases, but mostly they preferred to just say “fuck it,” and reap both the rewards and punishments with prideful indignation afterwords. Pike can't help but think of her mischievous fun with her friends fondly, but she understands why others do not.

“We weren't speaking of you, of course. You're hardly any trouble – it's been a blessing, having you stay with us and help our ill and wounded. You're not like Vox Machina at all,” the blonde says. She'd been the one to clean Grog and Vax's oil mess and Pike's heart squeezes in horror at the thought of what might have happened, had she still been around when the assassins had attempted to assassinate her friends and herself in their beds. The blonde maid's chin is peppered with acne and her cheeks youthfully round. She's quite young, as is her friend. Pike doesn't think they'd been maids at the time of the Briarwood's reign, but they'd been raised during it. She's hardly insulted by them or even hurt by their word, and the sick feeling in Pike's stomach is hardly their fault. It's only her own insecurities entirely - her loneliness at being separated from Vox Machina so often lately, so much she felt as though she wasn't Vox Machina anymore herself – and they'd been festering long before overhearing these girls.

“Not that we mean any disrespect to your friends either, my Lady,” the brunette rushes to add, eyes averted from Pike's.

Pike swallows, uncomfortable. “Just Pike is fine, I'm… no lady,” she musters herself to say after a while. “It's all fine, really. I'm just taking this,” she lifts the tea tray and the cups clink and the tea sloshes, “over to Zahra, so if you'll excuse me...”

The girls scatter to make room for Pike to pass, though it's hardly necessary in a hall so large and Pike being the size she is. Pike nods to them and interrupts their further apologies with “Thank you… Good night!”

She walks briskly, less careful of the tea which clatters and clinks in her hands and several of the biscuits have bounced from their plates. By the time the girl's start hissing and elbowing each other, Pike only has to take a few more steps and they are out of her ear shot. Pike sighs and her steps slow.

Her friends always welcomed her back with open arms, whether it had been four months or scant couple of hours since they'd parted. Except, every time they reunited they all got so much stronger. Pike had used to as well, but she'd stagnated. She kept getting caught in mundane work. Meaningful work of course. Work that had to be done, for the world to be saved.

The first time Pike had left her hometown, it had been to find Grog and make certain he was safe but she'd stayed with Vox Machina for herself because she wanted the adventure. She didn't want routine, no matter how important it was. She wanted to see and do extraordinary things, to be extraordinary herself.

Yet here she was, going soft. She'd stopped wearing her full armor, because it was cumbersome to her new lifestyle.

She was toiling in Whitestone, which Pike never minded doing, but there was no triumph in the toil she was doing right now. It was work and it was necessary, but it wasn't the work she craved.

She shook the thoughts from her head as she reached the door to the study that Zahra had taken ownership over lately. It was meant to be open to public perusal but Pike had noticed many of the people of Whitestone were purposely avoiding Zahra, likely for being a Teifling. Teiflings had a notorious reputation, but of course Pike didn't pay reputations any mind. She believed in second chances and judging Zahra by her Tiefling ancestry wasn't even a first chance. Pike believed in judging people by their actions and she mostly found Zahra to be very charming.

“Zahra? I've brought tea, how about a break?” Pike calls into the room as she pushes the study door open and her eyes land on Zahra slumped over an open book. She'd fallen asleep at her desk again.

As tensions rose in the approaching final battle against the Chroma Conclave, sleep took place less and less tucked under blankets in bed and more and more at desks amidst papers and books for pillows, naps snuck between tirelessly searching for any resource that could help them and spell work. So it was hardly a rare occurrence for Pike to find Gilmore, Allura, and other residents of Whitestone napping with their work, as Pike had done herself a number of times. All there was to be done, really, was to throw a blanket over Zahra and hope she had pleasant dreams and as fitful a sleep as a desk could provide.

So Pike set down the tea on the opposite end of the desk, by several tall stacks of books, and fetched a blanket set aside for such purposes, and draped it around Zahra's shoulders, careful to not wake her up. She'd wake soon enough and Zahra needed as much rest as she could catch – they all did. Those they knew Vox Machina in particular were working themselves to the bone, to make up for the life endangering work that they were willingly entering every day.

She runs her hands down Zahra's shoulder, smoothing out the blanket, careful to not jostle her. One of the many advantages of leaving off her armor was that she was so much better at being quiet. Pike sighs as she glanced around the room, moving slowly back around the desk, it was unfortunate that Zahra's study was in the heart of the castle and had no windows to even peek and see her patron.

Pike looks over her shoulder to give Zahra one last glance, finding her still sleeping soundly. Pike smiles softly and reaches without looking for the tea tray only to knock the tray from the desk instead of picking it up.

“Oh no!” Pike cries out diving to catch the tray and accidentally knocking into a bookshelf, causing it to wobble violently. The tray crashes to the floor, the sound of broken china splintering in the air. Pike successfully steadies the shelf before it tipped to the ground, but her elbow knocks into a stack of books on the desk, which tips over another tower of stacked books that fall right over Zahra. “Oh no!” Pike cries again, shutting her eyes as the books cascade over Zahra's surely sleeping form.

“I'm so sorry,” Pike whispers in horror as she turns to Zahra, who'd already sat up from the desk and shielded herself from the onslaught of books that had tumbled upon her. “Are you okay?”

“Well, it was a rude awakening, but I am quite fine,” Zahra says, a smile in her eyes as her eyes flicked to the tray and broken cups on the floor. “It was the tray that woke me, so I was awake in time to see the books coming.”

“I'm sorry,” Pike repeats meekly, watching guiltily as Zahra starts re-stacking the books. She doesn't seem hurt, at least. “I just always ruin stealth… I can't even blame it on my armor this time… Man, and I'd just thought, I'd done so well to put the blanket over you without waking you and then I couldn't even pick up a tray right. It'd have gone so much better if Vex was here to cast _Pass Without a Trace_ on me.”

Zahra laughs a deep throaty chuckle, one hand reaching to touch the blanket around her shoulders. “I'm not so sure. I hadn't meant to fall asleep yet, anyway. Stop apologizing.”

“Right… Er, can I help you with those?” Pike nods her head to indicate the mess of books but Zahra shakes her head.

“It'll only take me a moment… I had them in organized and you wouldn't know my system.” There's no insult in her words, but Pike worries her bottom lip in shame and watches as Zahra quickly gathers her books back into order.

“Well nothing's damaged… though they aren't my books either way,” Zahra says after a while, eyes flicking to Pike. “Please, sit.”

“Oh!” Pike blinks and looks at the tea tray. “But the tea is… I should just clean this up and go.”

“Nonsense. No reason we can't talk without it. I don't care for tea, but I do care to speak with you.”

“Oh. Well,” says Pike. She'd been bringing tea to Zahra for weeks now. It's not even like Pike particularly likes tea herself – she'd prefer coffee anyday, but everyone in Whitestone drank tea so she'd adapted to their preference in her stay and had assumed Zahra shared the preference. “Alright.” Pike sits, using the step stool that had been set aside just for her use. Her feet dangle over the edge of the chair, but Pike is long used to that by now. Sometimes sitting in gnome sized chairs discomfort her more now.

Pike had been introduced to Zahra a while ago, when Zahra and Kashaw had first come to Whitestone. Though Kashaw had done everything he could to avoid having to interact with anyone more than necessary so Pike hadn't met him until the night of the assassination attempt, but Zahra had been eager to meet Pike from the first day. She'd said she was glad to finally meet Vox Machina's most elusive and mysterious member. Pike wondered if she still thought that about her – she was hardly mysterious.

Zahra sighs, catching Pike's attention. She looks solemn, hand stroking the covers of her book.

“How are you doing, Zahra?”

Resting her chin against her knuckles, Zahra looks disquieted as she speaks lowly, “I know Kash is entirely capable of taking care of himself and that he's likely at with Vanessa at the Slayer's Take and in safe hands at this moment, but I can't help but worry for him. Everything is happening so fast, we didn't even have a chance to say goodbye.” Zahra sighs and her tail flicks anxiously behind her. “Well, I'm sure it's the same for you with yours.” At Pike's look of confusion, Zahra explains, “Grog was always talking about his little buddy Pike, his sister.”

“Oh. Right. I am all the time worried for him. For all of them, of course, but Grog… he's mine, my brother… Even if he's the strongest person I know, I wish I could be with him and make sure he's safe.”

“So… it's normal?”

“...Is what normal, Zahra?”

“To worry? Even if I have no reason to believe he is currently in danger… I can't help it. I worry for my cousin Lilith most days, but I have good reason to… But Kash…”

“Of course,” says Pike croakily. “Especially in dark times like this, your brother worries you when you're apart. But even when the world is… more or less peaceful, with brothers like ours… it's hard not to worry all the time. They seek danger as much as danger seeks them. All we can do is wait until they come home, hoping they are all one piece, when we can't be with them. Much as I'd love to go be with Grog right now, I know in my heart I can't be with him always.”

Zahra breaths harshly through her nose. “You're right. Thank you. It makes it no easier that all I'm doing is enchanting arrows while searching my books for more I can do, of course… Worried as I am for him, I'm also getting stir-crazy sitting here, while he's out stretching his legs so I'm equally envious of him too. I feel like I'm getting rusty, sitting here day in and day out, reading books.” Zahra gestures at her books with a look of vague disgust.

“Me too! Well... actually, I've been polishing my armor more than ever, just to be prepared and I've got nothing else to do some days... so my _armor_ isn't rusty it's better than it's ever been even if I don't get wear much right now… But _I_ am, definitely. Or I feel like it.” Pike's rambling and Zahra's eyes narrowing as her smile spreads does not help matters. Talking with Zahra is like being set in front of Scanlan at his most charming and sincere - Pike finds herself babbling. “I miss wearing it, I guess. I miss fighting too, as much as I miss them… Maybe, much as I worry for Grog and the others, I might be a little jealous. I know what I'm doing right here is just as meaningful, or will be in the long run, but…. I want to be with them, for them. To keep them safe, y'know? Make sure they all come home, safe and sound. But I admit, I also want to be with them for me. Because it's more fun and thrilling and dangerous.”

Zahra smiles, showing a flash of white fang against her red lips, and Pike feet kick self-consciously in the air. It was stupid to admit all that stuff, and selfish.

“Me too. I might not be attracted to the same dangerously unpredictable lifestyle, running headlong into every potential danger that you can find for the sake of it, that you prefer, but I like a little adventure. The routine excitement of taking out contracts with Kash at the Slayer's Take… I miss it. But of course, that's what we're staying here for – to keep doing what makes us happy in the long run.”

“Yeah.” Pike sighs in agreement, warmth in her belly. Zahra's right of course, about what they're doing this for. Still… Zahra's eyes are tired and her hands are already shuffling back towards her books. It's important, but that doesn't mean they can't enjoy even some of the things they're fight to keep.

“Hey, Zahra… You know, it's a full moon tonight. Why don't we go watch the moon and stars for a while? There's this really nice balcony with a beautiful view of the sky – though it's the one the Rakshasa tried to kill Vax on. But it's still very nice, they've already cleaned up the blood and most of the wreckage! And maybe… just tonight, both of us should go sleep in our beds and not with our books.”

Zahra doesn't respond immediately, but there is a smile curving her lips when she does. “That sounds lovely. I haven't had much time for my patron, lately. These books will wait for me until the morning.” Zahra slides the stack a bit further from herself and then her hand slips under the desk and Pike can hear her sorting through her bag before Zahra pulls out two jars. “I've been brewing it in secret. Much better than any other one else's moonshine, I'll tell you that, and much better than any tea.” She laughes giddily, shaking the jars.

“Moonshine?” Pike asks, grinning. “Last time I had some, I said some embarrassing things to Scanlan. Oh boy. Let's get sloshed. I can cast Greater Restoration on us in the morning if I have to.”

Zahra laughs, throwing her head back. “Vox Machina never does things by halves, do you guys? Alright, let's get ourselves good and drunk.” Her tail whips in excitement as she rises finally from her seat, stretching her arms above her head.

“Go big or go home,” Pike tells her. She's a member of Vox Machina, after all. It's what they do.

 


End file.
